Manhattan moves to 2-0 with last-minute comeback over Albany

Tykei Greene drives up for two of his game-high 17 points as Manhattan scored last seven points of second half to defeat Albany. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — Manhattan turned in an offensive performance reminiscent of its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship outfits in its season opener Tuesday night, receiving five double-figure scoring efforts to steer a victory over Delaware State.

The Jaspers’ first attempt at an encore, however, took on a tenor more symbolic of the gritty brand for which the program has earned its reputation over the bulk of the past decade.

Four days removed from placing 85 points on the Draddy Gymnasium scoreboard, Manhattan employed a more workmanlike demeanor against a like-minded opponent in Albany, trailing by 11 points on two separate occasions before seizing control down the stretch to prevail Saturday in a 57-51 battle with the Great Danes that could ultimately be described as a tug-of-war played out on a hardwood floor.

“Early in the year, those are games you want to try to steal,” head coach Steve Masiello remarked as the Jaspers improved to 2-0 for the third time under his watch — which has now entered its ninth season — and second in the last three years. “I’m really proud of our guys, I thought they were extremely resilient tonight. They came back from two double-digit deficits and showed a lot of character, showed a lot of what the people in that locker room are about.”

“It was very telling for me that we played Tuesday night, and Wednesday, we had nine guys in the gym on their own on their day off. Samir Stewart was on the gun Tuesday night after the Delaware State game, shooting. There’s no value in that. That excites me. Whether we’re 0-2, 2-0, those are the things I’m looking at that move the needle for me, that tell me what this group could really be in time.”

Manhattan led for just over four minutes in a contest in which Albany (1-2) was able to get good looks against Masiello’s matchup zone defense at the beginning of the first half. The Great Danes connected on four of their first nine three-point field goal attempts en route to opening the game on a 15-4 run, then struck first out of the intermission when Cameron Healy’s three-pointer put the visitors ahead by the score of 34-23. The Jaspers’ engine would soon reach top speed, though, as a 10-0 run over the next five minutes turned a comfortable lead into a tighter one-point affair.

Albany would soon stretch its advantage to six points, but Manhattan fired back once more, utilizing an 11-2 spurt punctuated by a Tykei Greene three to take its first lead of the night with 6:10 remaining in regulation, at 46-43. The stretch drive proved to be a seesaw battle — with the Great Danes forging ahead one last time, at 51-50 — before a game-defining exchange occurred within the final two minutes after Pauly Paulicap missed a pair of free throws that would have put the Jaspers ahead by three. Trailing by one, Stewart’s driving layup sailed wide, but Paulicap fully extended himself to scoop up the errant basketball and lay it in himself to regain a lead the hosts would not relinquish.

“Every time I mess up on a play before, I always keep that chip on my shoulder,” the fifth-year senior forward imparted as his lunge and subsequent basket was the beginning of a game-ending spate of seven unanswered Manhattan points. “I always keep that in the back of my head to make up for it, and that’s what allows me to keep going throughout the game.”

“It’s one thing to talk about being a tough team, it’s another thing to do the things that tough teams do,” said Masiello — who tied his former mentor, Bobby Gonzalez, for fourth place on the Jaspers’ all-time wins list with the victory — after his team clamped down defensively, allowing just five second-half field goals to an Albany team that missed each of its final ten long-range attempts. “I thought in the second half, we did the things that tough teams do. We played our brand of basketball.”

In addition to his game-high 17 points, Greene supplemented his offense with nine rebounds, part of a night where he and fellow sophomore Elijah Buchanan combined for 17 boards to satisfy his coach, who always stresses consistent rebounding from his backcourt.

“We want to see car crashes on the glass,” an impassioned Masiello declared after Manhattan outrebounded Albany by a 28-16 margin in the second half. “I think that’s a very nice thing for us, and our guards are a big part of that. We did that tonight.”

Up next for Manhattan is a pivotal road trip — one that will last through December 14 — beginning Tuesday night at Samford, where Masiello will coach against his former college teammate, Scott Padgett. But beyond the sentiment lies business, and the veteran architect of the Jasper program knows exactly what he wants from the five-game, 25-day odyssey.

“You’ll know if you’re a good team or not by how you do on the road,” he astutely observed. “We’ll have our hands full, but we’re excited to go to Birmingham. In mid-major basketball, if you return a lot of guys, you’re going to have a tough time. We’ve got to be better than our excuses and any reasons in front of us. We’ll go one game at a time, 40 minutes at a time.”